A difficult question to ask without a feeling of tooting one's horn. I think that what a neighborhood bookstore needs to survive is a good neighborhood. As in, people who will come down to the neighborhood bookstore and spend some time browsing, hanging out, and reading. And there is something special about Northeast Seattle that makes it happen: the people here do come and hang out, and bring their kids and buy books and eat dinner. I think that Vios and the Pub are what really set us apart in the Seattle Indie Bookstore community. We are doing well, and they are a big part of the reason why.
Wheather there is room for more bookstores in the area I really couldn't say. In my eyes, our main competitor is Amazon, which is why the restaurant and pub are helping us survive that competition. You wouldn't take a date to the computer to order a book, would you? We are a store designed for browsing, eating, hanging out, a Third Place, if you will.
The truth to me is that a community decides what it needs and what it wants in its businesses. If a community wants the cheapest book at the easiest convenience, that community will go to the internet and buy all their books online (eventually forgoing print entirely and redifining the idea of a book, if that is their choice). But if what the community wants is a bookstore, with staff picks and book art and chairs and beer, well, it is up to the community to decide and support those bookstores.
Thanks, guys, for choosing us. Really.
